Wichita eagle., 1887-04-16
aail9 r. aele
GOURLAY BROTHERS.

In q quiet street eff one of the quiet
squares in the vicinity of Holborn there
Is tall, gloomy house, with narrow,
dusty windows and massive double door
that still bears q brass plate with the
words "Gourlay Brothers engraved
thereon.
The lower part of the house was used
as an Office, but the blinds were rarely
drawn up the door seldom swung back to
the energetic push Of customers, the long
passage echoed no hurried footsteps, and
Eli Haggart, the clerk, was to all appear
ance the idlest man in London, till one
came to know his masters.
They always took the same route; at II
they might be seen passing along the
sunny side of Cannon street, at 1:30
they entered the same restaurant and
Sat at the same table for luncheon. Wet
or dry, shade or shine, summer or winter,
every working day for thirty years they
had gone through the same routine, al
ways excepting the month of September,
when they took their annual holiday.
They were elderly men-John, tall,
thin, melancholy looking, with light gray
eyes, scanty hair and whiskers and gen
eral expression of 6rabness pervading his
whole face and faultlessly neat attire.
Roger was shorter, rounder, more cheer
full and generally warmer in color. His
pervaGing hue was brown, keen reddish
eyes that must have been merry once,
crisp auburn hair that had not yet quite
transmitted TO silver, clean shaved
ruGdy face, and brown hands full Of
dents and dimples. John was the elder,
still he looked up to Roger with grave re-
spect, consulted him on every subject
and never, either in or out Of business
took any step without his approval And
Roger was no less deferential; without
any profession of affection or display of
feeling, the Gourlay Brothers dwelt to-
gether in closest friendship and love; their
life was a long harmony, and during all
the years of their partnership no shadow
had fallen between them, and their public
life was as harmonious as their private
intercourse. In business they We're sue
cessful, every speculation they made pros
pered, everything they touched turned to
gold: and as their whole lives were
spent in getting, not spending, they were
believed, and with reason, to be immense
ly wealthy. "Cold, hard, stern, enterpris-
ing" men called them; with an acuteness
of vision and a steadiness of purpose only
to be acquired by long and close applica-
ton to business. Reserved in manner,
simple in their taste, economical in their
habit, the GOurlay brothers were the last
men in the world to be suspected Of senti-
ment, their lives the least likely to contain
even the germs of romance. And yet
they had not been always mere business
machines; tho sole aim and end of their
existence had not always been money In
early years they had had brighter dreams,
nobler ambition.
AT school John had distinguished him
self, and his brief university career gave
promise OF q brilliant future RogeS had
been a bright, ardent boz, with a taste
for music that was almost passion, and
q talent little sort Of genius With his
deep earnestneSs, intense steadiness of
purpose, and clear, vigorous intellect,
John could scarcely have failed to make a
distinguished lawyer. Roger was born
artist, with restless, lofty ambition.
Life seemed very bright for the brothers;
there was nothing to prevent and every
thing to assist each in following his in
clination. But in the very dawn of their
career their father died, and they were
suddenly reduced from affluence to actual
poverty. Nothing remained from the
wreck of magnificent fortune but the
bitter experience that alway accompanies
such reverses. Fine friends failed them,
fiatterers looked coldly on their distress,
those who had most frequently partaken
of their lavish hospitality passed on the
other side. Nota friend remained in their
adversely but one, and he had indeed the
will but not the power to help them The
boys left college and turned their thoughts
to business. 1t was hopeless to attempt
TO follow up their professions with an in
valid mother and idolized only sister de-
pending on them for support John
secured situation as a clerk in the office
of Bernard Russell, an old friend of his
fathers. They moved TO cheap lodgings,
and for several years plodded on YEARLY,
the only CLEAN of sunshine in their altered
home being the occasional visits of a ice
Russell to their sister. Maude Gourlay
and Alice had been school fellows and
friends; they usually spent their vacations
together, and Alice felt the Misfortune
that had fallen on their family as if il
had oYert2ken her own But she could
do nothing except pay them flying visits
send triiilng gifts of fruit and flowers and |
write pretty, sympathetic notes to Naude. |
A few years Of hardship and poverty |
TODD on Mrs. Gourlay's always feeble |
frame; still for her daughters sake she |
chung TO lie with a strange tenacity; |
but, when Maude's lover, who had |
gone 30 Australia to make his fort |
une, returned, not wealthy but suf- |
ficlently SO to claim his bride in |
her altered circumstances Mrs. Gour- |
Lay sesnd to have no other object to |
1--we Tor Maude's marriage was hast |!
ened, and the very day after the ceremony |
the poor, weary, broken hearted mother |
died. George Leslie took his wife back |
with him to Sydney, and John and Roger |
Gourlay were literally alone in the world |
AS II II bitter mockery of their loss and |
loneliness, Immediately after their moth |
er's death the brothers inherited a small |
fortune. But 1t was too late for John to |
go back to his studies, too late for Roger |
TO return 70 his piano; they had fallen |
into the groove OF business, and John at |
least was seized with feverish eagerness |
to turn his small fortune into large one
and become wealthy. So they went into |
business on their own account as Gourlay |
Brothers, with the firm resolution of re-
trleYlng the position their father had lost.
and very few years saw them established
In Whittier street and fairly on the high
road TO fortune Then one quiet summer
evening as they sat over their dessert
John opened his heart to his brother and
told him of his hopes, dreams and ambi-
lions for the future.
"You VIII be surprised, and l trust
pleased, 10 hear, Roger, that love Alice
Russell, !" he said. laying his hand on his
brothers arm; Il can hardly remember
The time when she was not dearer to me
han all the world besides The bitterest